


but the company is heavenly

by jinglebellbard



Category: Warhammer 40.000
Genre: Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Hive Desoleum, Krieg - Freeform, Mentions of Prostitution, Oral Sex, Vaginal Sex, and the Magdalena is an original character i made just to fall in love with him, no heresy here, nope - Freeform, the krieg is a dark heresy player character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-06-05 17:38:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15175895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jinglebellbard/pseuds/jinglebellbard
Summary: In the glittering Apex of Desoleum Primus, a bird in a lavish cage helps a deathworld soldier out of a bind.





	1. the company is heavenly

The Apex levels of the Desoleum Primus are a clock, ticking with the movement of every closely watched worker, and The Magdalena Beatifica is surrounded by golden cogs at all times.  
The members of the Consortium are the few that hold the monetary lock and key on her oath. They pay for the pleasure of her company, but they are the ones who make sure that she doesn’t stray too far from her lavishly decorated chamber without at least two guards.  
Gilded cages for expensive birds.  
Do you know how lucky you are, they ask, that you have seen the sun? Stay with us, and bring us all into your emperor-blessed light.  
So, in her desperation against routine and monotony, Magdalena is the first to notice the Krieg soldier trying to hide away down an ornately gilded hall, and so close to being found.  
She tilts her head, not quite sure what she’s seeing when the gasmasked man is found by a guard she knows well, grabbed roughly and shouted at. Magdalena sees one of the Krieg’s hands twitch toward a heavy looking gun at his waist before she feels herself run forward, the delicate golden bracelets around her ankles jingling as she comes to the two men.  
“Oh! There you are!” she says, touching the Krieg man lightly on his arm, startling both him and the guard. “I was wondering whether you would show up already dressed or not. Aren’t you eager?”  
“Ma- Miss Magdalena, you know this man?” asks the guard, loosening his grip but not completely letting go.  
“Oh, of course. One of my… regulars of House Rhomana wanted to try something more… adventurous.” she says, winking at the guard. “Why else would a Krieg soldier be up here?”  
“I… suppose. Alright. But if I hear anything about any lunatic in a gasmask making trouble, I’m going to have to come find you.”  
“I’ll hold you to it, good sir.” she says, slipping her small hand through the crook of the still confused Krieg’s elbow. “Come, I’ve been waiting for you.”  
He looks between the two, the only noise coming from him the mechanized rattling of his respirator. After a moment he walks with her, hand falling away from his gun.  
Once they enter her rooms, Magdalena slumps against the door, brushing strands of golden brown hair out of her face. “If you’re going to come up to the Apex, you should make that Inquisition rosette the first thing that people see.” she says after a moment, twisting a heavy ruby ring on her finger nervously.  
“Ah. And here I was, suspicious.” he says, deep voice filtered through the mask.  
“Whyever would you be suspicious of me?” she asks, crossing to sink onto a blue plush couch. “I’m the one helping you.”  
“If you hadn’t mentioned the Inquisition, I would have to worry that you were always pulling strange, out of place men into your quarters.” he says, hesitating to sit next to her even after she gestures for him to.  
“Oh, not usually.” she says. “Some of my patrons do prefer I act as if I don’t know them, though.”  
“Your… oh. Yes, I see. It makes sense that the Consortium would keep the prettiest of company for themselves.” he says, not a trace of judgement in his voice. “They must take good care of you.”  
“I suppose. When they aren’t bruising me to pretend at some form of strength. Would you like anything? They’ll expect you to be here for… a good few hours. After that, you can move around with… less suspicion.” Magdalena stands, crossing the room again to a small, elegantly carved table set with a tea pot and several small cups.  
The man looks so out of place against the rich colors and soft fabrics of her rooms, sitting stiffly and making no move to remove any of his heavy equipment. Magdalena stifles a giggle when he starts at the tame Ptera-squirrel in a cage near him.  
“Aren’t these things blood drinkers?” he says.  
“Only every other generation. Do you drink while you work, Inquisitor?”  
“I don’t. And I’m… not an Inquisitor.” he says. “I’m an Acolyte to Inquisitor Basilida.”  
“And what do you call yourself, Acolyte?” Magdalena’s voice slips into a softer pitch as she comes back the couch he sits on, sinking down next to him and looking into the blank glass eyes of his mask.  
“050-3386-b14.” he says.  
“Don’t you have a name?”  
“That is my name.”  
Magdalena hums, gaze slipping down to his chest, where her hands follow. B14 watches but says nothing as she begins to undo the buttons of his heavy overcoat, and shrugs it over his shoulders for her when it comes loose enough. She can hear his breath stall momentarily through the rattle of his mask.  
“I am… technically working.” he says, voice low and unconvincing.  
“So am I, Acolyte.” she purrs, setting his coat aside gently. “Will you remove that, or shall I?”  
His fingers fumble with the buckle of his weapon laden belt, eventually unhooking it and leaning forward to put it on the table in front of them, coming so close to her face she thinks she can almost see through the glass that hides his eyes.  
“I don’t have… anything to pay you with.” he says, and she swears she can hear him swallow when she comes closer to him, sliding one leg over his lap and straddling him.  
“Pay me with the pleasure of company from a man who isn’t keeping me a prisoner.” she says.  
“Why are you helping me? I could have gotten past that guard and anyone else who challenged me. I might not be an Inquisitor, but I am Inquisition.” he asks, even as his gloved hands come up to settle on her hips.  
“Chasing new experiences.” Magdalena pulls golden pins from her hair, letting it fall down her back in waves as she shakes it out. “I have the same men over and over again. None of them have ever been men of… substance. Something tells me you are.”  
His distorted laugh sends a frisson of heat down her spine, as do the large hands that go to the delicate fabric of her light robes. “The most sought after companion of the Hive Desoleum is bored enough to want a deathworld soldier without a name?”  
“You’re big and imposing, and could probably break me in half. I don't have to be bored to want you.” she says.  
“How expensive is this?” he asks, gripping the silk she wears.  
“Fairly.”  
“Good,” he growls, ripping it open, and tossing it aside, one arm wrapping around her bare waist, drawing a laugh from her. “So you like someone who can show some real power, Magdalena Beatifica?”  
“Yes,”  
She lets out a soft squeak and wraps her bare legs around his hips as he stands, lifting her effortlessly. There is a moment when he just walks her over to her enormous plush bed, nose to nose as she presses soft kisses to the dirty sides of his mask.  
“What am I allowed to do for you?” he asks, and the edge of want in his filtered voice makes Magdalena shiver pleasantly.  
“Anything you want.”  
B14 growls again, sinking to his knees and sitting her on the bed, pulling off his leather gloves and tossing them carelessly to the side before he unbuckles one of the straps on his mask, shoving it up to expose his chin and mouth.  
Magdalena blushes as he throws one of her legs over his shoulder, kissing the inside of her soft alabaster thigh. He is surprisingly gentle when he slides one finger down her wet center, drawing a soft pleased noise from her before he presses it inside of her. After a moment of her squirming, he slides another alongside it and comes up to give her a lick.  
“Ohhh, my,” she says, words coming out in a soft sigh. “No one’s done this to me in ages.”  
“Then everyone else is missing out,” he replies, and the rumble of his unfiltered voice makes her glad that she’s laying back, or she would have been weak in the knees.  
He watches her toss her head back as his fingers curl and pump into her, the knee over his shoulder tensing a little, and he lets a rare smile slip.  
“H-how did you get so good at this?” she asks, one of her hand coming up to a soft breast and squeezing it.  
“I don’t know, am I doing well? This is new for me.” he says. “Maybe you just bring out the best in men.”  
“Come up here and show me your best, soldier,” she purrs, sitting up and pushing him back gently so that she can unbutton his shirt and kiss him.  
B14 groans at the taste of her, faint hints of Dammassine and mint curling over his tongue as he opens his mouth to her. “You can’t be real,” he mumbles, shoving his shirt back to reveal a pale, muscular, scarred torso. “I must have died and been taken to some sort of heaven by the Emperor himself.”  
“You’re so poetic for a deathworlder,” she says, a teasing lilt in her voice.  
Magdalena urges him to stand, deftly undoing the ties of his heavy boots, helping him shake them off, laughing as he hurriedly undoes his belt and shoves his pants to the floor.  
“You are impressive, Acolyte.” she says, reaching forward to take his thick length in her soft hands. “How long has it been since someone took care of you?”  
“Years,” he gasps, bucking into her hands. “I… if you keep touching me like that I won’t last very long.”  
“Then tell me what you want.” Magdalena lets go of him, biting her lip at his low groan of displeasure at the loss of her warm palms. “Show me what you want.”  
He stands still for a moment before sliding one hand under her to flip her onto her front, pressing her into the bed and pulling her ass up. His hard cock slides down over her ass, rubbing a little as she giggles, wiggling against him.  
Her toes curl as he enters her, thick enough that the stretch burns a little, and she melts against him. His huff of contentment when he finally hilts in her makes her feel warm, a smile curving her red lips.  
“You’re like if heaven was a person,” he mumbles, pulling out before pressing slowly back into her again.  
“Such a charmer,” she gasps, letting out a yelp when his pace picks up. The way he slams into her over and over makes her chest tight. The men who keep her in her cage don’t fill her and hit the sweet spots inside her like he’s doing. When she looks up and sees his gas mask hit the mattress in front of her, she twists back to look at him but is stopped when one of his hands fists in her hair, pulling her head back and arching her back as he thrusts particularly roughly.  
“Maybe next time,” he says, voice gravelly against her ear.  
“Next time? A-already thinking of endangering yourself for me? Oh! Ohhh, right there…”  
“I think I’d do a lot of things for you,” he says, breathless.  
Magdalena feels something hot coil inside of her, and she tenses up against him when he hauls her up so that her back is pressed against his chest. “Y- ah! You’re going to break me open,” she gasps, one hand going to the back his head, sliding across the smooth skin there. “Oh, yessss…”  
She comes apart around his cock, shuddering and tightening and squeezing down on him, and she’s barely coherent again when he lets out a strained groan and spills inside of her, holding her tight against him. B14’s hands loosen a little and smooth down her front as he presses a kiss to her neck and slips out of her, reaching down for his mask.  
Magdalena keeps her eyes closed until he leans his forehead against hers and she can feel the cool material of his mask against her skin.  
“What should I call you?” she asks, voice soft.  
“B14 is fine.” he says, stretching out on her mattress next to her, arm curling around her shoulders protectively as she snuggles against him.  
She traces her soft fingertips down his scars, relishing his warmth and the strong hand that flexes around her shoulder.  
“Did you mean it when you said you’d come see me again?”  
“I… Would you want me to? I thought I was more of a… momentary distraction for you more than anything.”  
“I like you,” she says. “I want you to come back. You don’t even have to fuck me next time if you want.”  
“The idea that anyone wouldn't want to is laughable.” he says. “I… do have to go soon though. My partners will be wondering what’s taking me so long. I’ll come back,” he adds quickly at the crestfallen look on her face. “I don’t know when I’ll be able to but… I’ll figure it out.”  
Magdalena watches him stand and slowly begin to dress, pulling her silken sheets up around her naked body. When he’s all but ready to go, she stands, coming close to him and standing on her tiptoes to kiss his mask before he shoves it up again to truly kiss her.  
“Take this,” she says, pulling her enormous silver and ruby ring off and slipping it into his hand. “So you remember to come back.”  
“I will,” he says, holding her tightly. “I promise. I’m going to come back.”  
When he leaves, Magdalena feels a sudden rush of worry. She turns to her tame Ptera-squirrel, leaning her head against the sweet furry creature’s cage.  
“Do you believe in love at first sight?” she asks the animal, watching as it rubs its little head against her hand. “Does it count if I don’t even see his face?”  
She notices a worn glove that's certainly too big to be her own laying on the ground by one of her couches, and stoops to pick it up, squeezing the leather made soft by years of use.  
“I hope he comes back.” she whispers to herself, looking out of her window to where the sun is setting over the cloudscape that lays under the Apex. When the sun is fully down, B14 has made his way out of the Apex with CO7 and Sister Flavia, fingering the heavy ring in his pocket with a hand that he doesn’t even notice is ungloved.  
The golden cogs of the Apex keep turning, unaware of the wrench that slipped its way through, and The Magdalena Beatifica, most heavenly woman in all of the three hives, sleeps with a battered Krieg glove under her pillow.


	2. and the talk is divine

The next time The Magdalena sees B14, he’s wearing some sort of borrowed formal armor that doesn't match his mask.   
She’s at a party held by the Lady Aud Killian herself, brought by a member of the High House Gotha as a guest. Across the room is a long gilded table where the Governess sits, accompanied by the young Inquisitor who’s Acolytes brought down a hive-wide smuggling ring. Said Acolytes are also allowed at the table, a beaming Sister of Battle with white-blonde hair, an Adeptus Mechanicus that tinkers with someone’s oath-cog, and…  
Magdalena’s Krieg.   
Her heart almost stops as she sees him, the bare fingers of one hand tapping irritably on the pristine white tablecloth. She can't tell if he’s seen her yet, or if… maybe he’s avoiding her. The tech priest next to him nudges his elbow, gesturing at the musicians that play across the long room. When he looks over, she freezes.   
Just as he stops to stare at her.   
He halfway stands, suddenly in her direction, just as her date yanks on her arm and drags her away. She almost pulls her hand out of the brutish nobleman’s on reflex, but manages to avoid it, instead just looking back at B14 to see him slowly sit back down, still looking her way.   
It takes all evening for her to slip away from the Gotha merchant. A look and gesture are all it takes to have B14 follow her out into the quiet hall outside.   
“Does this count as you coming back to me?” she whispers when he stoops to pick her up, pressing her gently back against the wall.   
“I’m here, aren't I? Maybe the only reason I did all that work killing those heretics was to have an excuse to be back up here.” he says, and she sighs and buries her face against his neck, holding him tight.   
“I missed you, sweet Acolyte,” she murmurs, kissing the tiny sliver of skin under his mask and before his armor. His shiver makes her lips curve into a smile.   
“You think I'm sweet?”   
“Mm, I haven't had a proper taste of you, but I bet you are.”   
His heavy breathing stalls momentarily, and Magdalena purrs in his arms like a well loved cat, kissing his recently cleaned mask.   
“If I wasn't so worried about getting caught defiling a hero of the Desoleum Primus, I would taste you right now.” she says, gasping as he squeezes her ass. “I’d beg you to take me right here,”  
“Maybe we can sneak away a little later. Right now though,” he says, going to shove his mask up. “I’ve been thinking of kissing you for months.”   
She melts when he presses his lips to hers, arms going around his neck and cuddling up close to him. The cold plate of his armor sends a shiver down her spine, as does the low noise he makes in his throat when she opens her mouth.   
“I know it’s your job and all, but the sight of that ponce with his hands all over you made me want to break his arms.” he growls once she pulls away. “I hate thinking of you up in that cage, all alone except for men who don't know how to treat you.”   
“D-don’t forget about Mynda,” she says, giggling as he bites her neck gently.   
“Mynda?”  
“My squirrel.”  
B14 laughs, setting her down gently, hands sliding up to her face, watching her nuzzle into his rough palm.   
“You really did miss me, didn't you?” he says, adjusting his mask back down over his face. “Maybe I should ask for your oath in payment of my service to the Hive.”   
“Mm, I don't think that even the Rhomana are that grateful, dearest.”  
“B14! The Inquisitor is looking for y- oh! Hello there.”   
Magdalena looks up to see the Sister of Battle from the head table leaning around the pillar next to them. “Hello. Sorry for… stealing your colleague away for so long.”   
“No worries, if anyone needs to get some it’s this one.” says the white blonde woman. “We do need to report to our Inquisitor though.”   
Magdalena watches B14’s shoulders slump a little as he unwinds his arms from around her.   
“I’ll come find you later.” he says in a low voice that the Sister can definitely hear.   
“Come to my room. I’ve only this party to bear with that Gotha merchant. After that… I’m free all night for you, sweet soldier.”   
Magdalena walks away after planting a kiss to the respirator at the front of his mask, hips swaying under the white silk of her thin robes, and she hears the Sister ask B14 how the hell he knows the Upper Hive’s most high class escort.   
The party is good, with Amasec flowing freely all night, but it drags on for Magdalena. All she sees of B14 are short glimpses, except for the one dance he steals her away from her date. They don't talk as he twirls her around the room, surprisingly light on his feet, and she lays her head on his chest, relishing the feel of his weight against her. There’s a moment afterwards where she thinks he's going to kiss her in front of everyone else before he pulls away, hands slipping slowly away from her waist after giving her a final squeeze.   
Her date presses an annoying kiss to her cheek as he drops her off at her rooms, groping her ass before he leaves. With a sigh, she holds her oath-cog to the door to open it, letting herself slump against the dark wood of her wall.   
“Not a good evening?”  
B14 is sitting on one of the plush couches in her room, heavy armor plates stacked on the low table in front of him. He opens his arms towards her, curling them around her waist when she crosses the room and sinks down onto his lap.   
“Only the parts when you were with me.” she says, laying her head on his shoulder. “Since you were with me last I feel less and less patience for the men around me.”   
“Nice to know that I have enough charm to spoil you for high class men, lovely.”   
“More than enough.”   
Magdalena closes her eyes before reaching around the back of his mask, slowly undoing the straps there to give him time to stop her.  
He doesn't.   
All he does is wait until she removes the mask and set it aside before bringing a hand to her cheek and kissing her deeply. After a moment, he moves so that she lays under him, his hands coming up to plant themselves on either side of her head, careful of the halo of golden brown hair that curls over the cushions.   
“Open your eyes, Magdalena.”   
She does, slowly, looking up into eyes as blue as carefully stained glass, letting out a contented sigh as he smiles at her.   
“You’re so handsome.” she murmurs, touching one of his scarred cheeks. She can see where his nose must have been broken once, and a particularly deep scar crosses his left eyebrow. “Even more than I imagined.”   
“Have you spent a lot of time imagining me?” he asks, kissing her forehead gently.   
“So much,” she says “That you would probably think I had nothing to do with my days but lay in bed and daydream of you.”  
“That’s a pretty image,” he says, watching her unbutton his shirt slowly, her knuckles brushing against the hard muscle underneath. “Thinking of you tangled up in those expensive sheets, just waiting for me to come back and get you.”   
“You should stay with me all night,” she whispers. “Please,”  
“Anything for you.”   
He leans down to kiss her again, not even pulling away when she pushes his shirt down off his shoulders. Not when she undoes her own jeweled belt and lets her white silk robe part, exposing her soft breasts and stomach.   
“Thinking of you while working has been the cause of many stray bullets.” he says when he pulls away, voice a low rumble. “You’re more distracting than anyone I’ve ever met.”   
“I hope you didn’t get hurt because of me- oh! Mmm, do that again…” Magdalena shudders as his teeth sink into the soft skin of her neck. “Mark me up as much as you want,”  
B14 growls, pulling her robes aside even more, kissing down her collarbones and breasts. “Careful. Keep talking like that and you'll be black and blue before I’m even done.”  
He sucks a bruise into the side of her left breast, making her squirm as he shoves his pants down, not even bothering with undoing his belt as he leans against her.   
“You want me?” she purrs, wiggling against him and gently taking his throbbing cock in one small hand. “Shall I reward you for your service to the Hive and the Emperor himself?”   
“Please,” he says, hips bucking forward against her hand.   
Magdalena pushes herself into a sitting position, kissing him again and guiding him to lay on his back on her plush couch.   
“Well, hero. I did say earlier that I wanted to taste you. May I?”   
“Yes, please,” he says, one hand coming up to her face, rough thumb stroking over her plump red lower lip.   
The first kiss she presses to the head of his cock makes his fingers twitch, and a blush unfitting of a deathworlder spreads across his face. The Magdalena Beatifica, he realizes quickly, does not waste time. Soon his fist is tangled in her golden brown waves of hair, and she has his dick halfway down her throat, yellow gold eyes framed by dark lashes turned up towards him. Her tongue is hot and wet and velvety on him, dragging over his skin like he is the sweetest thing she’s ever tasted.   
“Fuck,” he hisses, having to concentrate to avoid bucking his hips up and shoving himself further into her mouth.   
“You are sweet, lover.” she says after pulling away from his dick with a soft pop that makes him groan. “Do you want more?”   
“I always want more of you,” he says, pulling her to kiss him again.   
It only takes a moment for her to sink down onto his cock, stretching around him and letting out a little whine as he presses fully inside her.   
“You fit so perfectly,” she says, gasping aloud when he shifts to bounce her up and down a few times experimentally.   
“You- oh, fuck, engel,- you make it v-very hard to think.”   
Her heart swells at the pet name that falls so easily from his lips, and she wiggles her hips on him a little, making his head fall back. Her slow rhythm makes him grit his teeth, fingers tense around her hips as he fights the urge to move her faster.   
“You want more?” she asks, kissing him gently before pulling back to meet his eyes.   
“Yes, always yes,”  
“Then take it.”  
He growls, using one arm to hold her to him as he shifts to be on top of her, and lets out a long groan as she giggles and hooks one leg up over his shoulder before he slides back into her.   
“You’re awfully flexible,” he manages to get out.   
“Mmm, takes practice,” she says, and lets out a squeak when he hits particularly deep inside of her.   
Magdalena has her nails dug into his shoulders when she comes, shuddering against him like a leaf in strong wind, mouth open against his. B14 holds her tight, one hand in her hair, and kisses the side of her head and neck as she tightens around him.   
“Come inside me?” she says, and he can do nothing but nod helplessly, eyes rolling back as he fills her with his hot seed, cock twitching inside her.   
“You’re so perfect,” he mumbles, leaning his forehead against hers.   
“I was just thinking the same about you.”   
B14 scoffs, pulling out of her with a mild wince at the cool air against his wet skin. “I don’t know how you came to that conclusion, engel.”   
“By looking at you. Don’t you talk bad about my B14 that way.” She pauses, giggling as he blushes.   
“Your B14, am I?”  
“Not if you don't want.”   
“I do want.” He shifts to lay next to her on the wide couch, pressing a kiss to her forehead.   
“Then yes. Mine.”  
They lay quietly for a while, Magdalena curled against his side, one of his muscular thighs between her soft ones. The light of the moon coming through the floor to ceiling window made her skin seem to glow, and B14 relaxed into the blue plush beneath him as her delicate fingertips wound down and over his scarred torso.   
“I wish you could stay with me for more than just a night.” she whispers.  
“Someday, I’m going to get you out of here. I know… maybe I’ve been caught up too quickly in you, but I can't help it.” he says, turning his head to her. “I want to make you happy.”  
“You do. Every time I think of you.” she replies. “And I think of you every day you're away from me.”   
“I still have your ring. Do you… want it back?” B14 asks, a reluctant shift in his voice.   
“No. I want you to keep it. As long as you let me keep the glove you left here.”  
“So that’s where that got to. It's all yours. It’s hardly as nice as your gift to me, but if you want it, I could never deny you.” he says. “Though having jewelry that fine has gotten me mocked by Flavia and CO7 more than once.”   
After a while, Magdalena stands and pulls him up with her, guiding him to her bed to curl up under down quilts and silk pillows. She points out her own made up constellations to him through the window, and they drift to sleep in a tangle of limbs, seen only by a waxing pale moon, and a tame Ptera-squirrel that falls asleep soon after.


	3. the heart of the earth

B14 wakes up and thinks he’s died.  
He’s never woken up to a perfect sunrise over pink and orange clouds like spun sugar, and certainly not in an enormous silk and down four poster bed with a woman he adores curled against his side.   
She stirs when he does, one soft arm snaking across his chest and trying to tug him back to his earlier position deep in the cushions.   
He hasn't gone this long without his gas mask in years, and suddenly he's glad her eyes are closed, now that she's sure to be sober enough to see what he really looks like in daylight.   
“Stay with me,” Magdalena slurs in her half awake state, pressing a kiss to his shoulder. “You’re so warm and you smell so nice.”  
“You think I smell nice? Maybe it is a good thing that Basilida forced us all to bathe before that party.” he says, drawing a giggle from Magdalena before he leans down to press a kiss to her forehead.   
“Stay,” she says, and he forgets hiding his face as he sinks back down next to her, pulling her close.   
“You somehow manage to look perfect even when you've just woken up.” he says, brushing hair from her face.   
“I think you’re a little swayed in my favor, lover.”   
B14 shudders a little as her small hands slide down his front, nails scratching lightly against him. Her lips press to his neck, leaving butterfly kisses up over his jaw until he slides a hand into her hair to pull her head back and kiss her deeply.   
She laughs against his mouth when his stiffening cock presses against her thigh, and lets one hand fall to stroke it gently.   
“Oh, you think that's funny?” he says, putting on a voice of mock seriousness.   
“Mm, the stern act would be convincing if you didn't seem so eager to do whatever I say, soldier.” she purrs, kissing his jaw again.   
Magdalena is so wrapped up in teasing him that she doesn't expect him to flip her onto her front and press down over her.   
“Don't you think I’m capable of being strict with you?” he asks, leaning down to her ear as she squirms a little beneath him.   
“I don't.” she replies, turning her head to give him a wicked grin. “But I hope you prove me wrong.”   
One of his hands comes up to lightly grip her throat, just enough to hold her in place as he rubs his cock over her ass. He can feel her pulse quicken under his palm, see her bite her lip in anticipation when he rubs the tip of himself against her wet heat. The noise she lets out when he slides halfway into her almost makes him reconsider the idea of not handing her everything she wants.   
Almost.   
He doesn't push in any farther than he already is, watching her squirm against his strong hands, trying to push him deeper.   
“You… please, B14?” She looks back to meet his eyes, blush spreading over her nose and cheeks. “I'll be good, I promise, please give me more.”  
He pulls her up with one hand still on her throat, the other squeezing a breast, and bites her ear.   
“You promise, hm? You’re going to be a well behaved little angel for me?”  
“Yes!” she gasps, as he slides just a little deeper.  
“Say yes sir.”  
“Yes, sir!”  
“Gutes Mädchen. Now, if you want to come, I want to watch you fuck yourself on me.”   
Magdalena gives a pleasant shudder and his rough voice, immediately pushing back against him until he's finally all the way inside of her.   
“Back down, engel.” he says, and she obeys so willingly that he almost melts, her back arching as she buries her face in silk pillows, still moving her hips against him to use his cock. Soft moans and sighs bubble up from her, and B14 squeezes her hips and ass gently.   
“You feel so good,” he murmurs, and she whines softly, pressing back against him particularly roughly at his words. “So tight and hot and wet for me.”  
“P-please, sir, I c-can’t move fast enough, I… I need more.” she says, pushing up onto one forearm and looking back at him.   
“Since you ask so nicely,” he says, and presses one hand between her shoulder blades, pushing her back all the way down before finally slamming into her like he wants.   
Magdalena melts under him, the hand not pinned underneath her going to fist in the sheets above her head. B14 holds her still as he fucks her, hips slapping against her round ass, and he takes another moment to remember he isn't dead and in heaven.   
“Harder,” she gasps out, and he is helpless, complying as soon as she gets the word out, forgetting all pretense of being strict with her. A particularly hard thrust has her eyes rolling back in her head, soft lips parting in a throaty moan.   
“Come for me,” he says, trying to get a demanding note back into his voice.   
She whimpers and nods, and after a drew more moments, obeys, shivering and twisting a little against him, squeezing down tightly on his cock in a way that makes B14 grip her ass tighter.   
“You love this, don't you? Being used by a man who really can back it up.” he says, pulling out of her, cock still hard, and lifting her so that she lays on her back again, head lolling back against the pillows.   
“So much.” She gasps a little as he enters her again. The way she’s spread out beneath him, golden brown hair and yellow eyes caught in the early morning sunlight, makes B14 understand why she holds the title she does. She looks like a stained glass window beneath him.  
“I love you.” he says, without thinking, before freezing up as her eyes widen.   
“You do?” Her voice is soft, and she reaches up to gently pull his head down to hers so that their foreheads lean together.   
“I… yes. I do. I love you, Magdalena.” he says again.  
She bites her lip against a smile as she kisses his slightly crooked nose.  
“I love you, too.”   
He lets out an uncharacteristically soft sigh, kissing her deeply as he begins to move again, slowly thrusting against her, suddenly much more unwilling to even pretend at strictness.   
“You’re so good,” she murmurs, arms coming up to slide around his shoulders. “You make me feel so good, B14, I’m so- oh- so glad you found me.”   
“You’re going to make me blush, engel.” he says, and buries his face against her neck. “Fuck,”  
“I want to feel you fill me again,” she whispers, and it’s all he can do to not crush her against him as he falls apart, mouth open and panting as he obliges her.   
The two of them are tired again as B14 pulls out of her, kissing her over and over before collapsing into the soft mattress at her side.   
“You really love someone as beat up and… well, someone like me?” he asks, watching as she snuggles up to him.   
“Not someone like you, silly. You.” He can feel her long lashes brush the skin of his chest as she closes her eyes and sighs happily.   
“Me.”  
“Yes. You really love someone who’s never been out of the Upper Hive? I mean, I don't have nearly as many interesting stories as you do, I'm sure.” she says, tilting her head up to look him in the eye.   
“Of course. You’re… sometimes I feel like you’re the only thing worth loving in the universe.” he says, swallowing hard. “I would do anything for you. Anything to make you happy.”  
She kisses him, soft.   
After a while, Magdalena has fallen back asleep. B14 can smell her hair, like the flowers that grow on Bucolia IX. The sun comes through the windows golden now, and he remembers that he’s alive.


	4. and the heart of the sky

The Hive is crumbling around Magdalena, and she stares out her window with Mynda on her lap, tears pouring down her face.   
The members of the High Houses are dead, as Lady Aud Killian is sure to be. Blood is spreading through the crack under her door to the hall, staining the lush carpets of her room.   
She wonders where in her room she’ll be killed.   
A thud resounds against the heavy door, making her flinch, Mynda scurrying under her cupped hands, nuzzling her little furry head into sweaty palms.   
“Engel,”   
When Magdalena turns to face the voice, her lip wobbles before she brushes away tears with the back of one hand.   
B14 walks to her, heavy boots flecked with blood and heavy gun unholstered. When he reaches the bed he falls to his knees in front of her, dropping the gun and stretching his hands out to pull her close. Mynda skitters out of Magdalena’s lap and up over his arm, hiding under the high collar of his overcoat.   
“I didn’t know if you would come for me.” she says, voice wavering.   
“I would have had to kill myself if I didn't.” His mask comes off, and she kisses his face over and over as he pulls her up to stand.   
“Is there anything you can't bear to leave behind?” he asks.   
“Just Mynda.”  
“Then we need to go.”   
She hurries behind him as he shoves his mask and helmet back on, needing to take three steps for every one of his. Three figures wait down the hall, weapons drawn, and the tallest of them turns as B14 and Magdalena approach.   
“Inquisitor. We’re ready.” he says.   
The Inquisitor Basilida looks down at them, a small smile crossing her face as she sees the small woman and her Ptera-squirrel.   
“Well then. Let’s get moving.”   
There's no way, Magdalena thinks, that we’re going to survive this. But at least I’ll die next to him.   
Lower Hive residents scramble through the halls of the Apex, avoiding the five that rush past them, with only one grubby man lunging toward Magdalena. His head explodes in a shower of bone and blood, making her squeak as B14 reloads his gun.   
“Sorry.” he says, taking her hand as they continue on.   
“W-what’s happening? Why is everything falling apart?” she asks, gathering her long skirts up so she can walk faster with him.   
“Your stupid man here broke the most flawless, delicate piece of machinery in this sector.” says the Adeptus Mechanicus behind her, an edge of despair in his voice. “You couldn't have just killed Aud Killian without damaging the cog?”  
“I didn't want anyone stopping us,” B14 mumbles, pulling Magdalena behind an overturned brazier that he peers over to aim and shoot at a group of guard servitors.   
“So you had to destroy an entire planet?” says the tech priest, lobbing a grenade at the remaining drones and waiting for the explosion before looking up again.   
“To be fair, this Hive World has been in bad shape for a hundred years.” calls Inquisitor Basilida over the head of the younger Sister of Battle. “And Aud Killian was a heretic by association at least.”   
“Besides, CO7, world destroying isn't that bad an evening.” says Sister Flavia.   
“You’re all insane.” CO7 mumbles.   
It takes them hours to reach the lower levels of the hive, where the chaos is even worse. Magdalena squeezes her eyes shut against the screams and carnage and lets herself be pulled along behind B14, taking only minor comfort when Mynda scurries back up her arm and sits on her shoulder.   
“I’m sorry. I couldn't think of any other way to get you out of this place.” she hears him say.  
“Y-you really did all this for me?”  
“Yes.” There’s no uncertainty in his voice, and she watches him load his gun again, smooth practiced motions that he doesn't even seem to think about.   
“I’ve got to admit, I feel a little useless not being able to help you all out.” she says, letting an almost smile cross her face.   
“Ha! If we all make it out of here, I’ll teach you how to handle a gun myself.” calls out the Inquisitor.   
“Here.” says B14, holding out a ridged iron ball. “Throw that. Quickly. Over there.”  
Magdalena looks over the stack of crates the two are hiding behind and throws the thing as hard as she can at the group of looters and people fighting outside of the alley, flinching as it explodes. A few screams echo through the alley, and something splatters against the other side of the crates.   
“M-maybe I am better off not helping,” she says, face paling.   
“Whatever you want.” B14 says.   
After a while, they’re out in the wastes, and the sudden quiet and cold has Magdalena more on edge than ever.   
“The Black Ship should be here soon.” says Basilida, checking something beeping on her wrist. “So, we’re taking her to Novabella?”  
“W- you're leaving me?” The panic in Magdalena’s voice isn't subtle.   
“No! No, I’m going to stay with you… for a little while. As long as the Inquisitor will let me. But… I can't be there forever. I’m not going to stay away forever, either, though.” B14 says, shrugging out of his overcoat and draping it over her shivering shoulders. “I’m not going to just dump you somewhere. I would never do that.”  
Some time later, the Inquisitorial Black Ship arrives, ugly armor plating making it look like a giant insect. The inside is only a little better, and Magdalena’s nerves are obvious to everyone around her.   
\----------  
The Agri-World of Novabella is the most beautiful thing Magdalena has ever seen. A golden field spreads out around the Black Ship, and the young wheat parts around her hips as B14 holds her hand to help her step down.   
“I… I’m going to live here?” she asks, uncertainty creeping into her voice.   
“You sure are, little bird. I got you a place to stay and everything.” says the Inquisitor, her heavy boots hitting the ground. “Just a little ways from here.”   
The three of them walk, leaving CO7 and Sister Flavia to guard the ship. The field of wheat gives way eventually to rows of shorter, leafier plants, with a small house coming into view. A short woman is watering a garden of flowers, her gray hair scraped back into a bun.   
“Well. Didn’t think you’d be comin’ home any time soon, Cici.” she says, looking up at the Inquisitor.  
“Hey, Ma.” Basilida leans down and kisses the old woman’s forehead.   
“You the one who’s gonna be my new farmhand, little thing?” says the Inquisitor’s mother, walking to Magdalena and pinching her cheek. “Don’t look like much. Never worked a day in your life, huh?”   
“N-not this kind of work, ma’am.” she answers, shier than she’s ever been in her life.   
“Hmph. Well, you’ll be learnin’ quick. What do I call ya?”   
“My name is Magdalena.”   
“Lena it is, then. What about you, soldier? Ya got any experience workin’ farms?”   
“No ma’am.” says B14.   
“Cici, you haven't brought me a present in years, and this is what I get when ya do?”   
“Sorry, Ma.”   
\----------  
Magdalena settles into farm life easier than B14, to everyone’s surprise.   
Waking up before every dawn doesn't make her cranky like it does him. She gets along well with the woman who owns the tavern and general store just a short wagon ride away, and has a thumb greener than even Basilida’s mother.   
B14 goes the whole month without his mask, becoming the surly bald man for once in his life rather than the surly gasmasked man.   
\---------  
The month goes quickly.   
B14 kisses her goodbye in front of the Sister and the tech priest and the Inquisitor, promising to come back as soon as he can.   
She says she just worries he won't get the chance to before something happens to him because of the Inquisition. That he’ll die before he gets back to her.   
\----------  
He doesn't.

**Author's Note:**

> i don't SUPER know a whole lot about the 40k universe so some things might be a little off. I just love super intense religious themes and anti fascist commentary


End file.
